Departmental Telephone Services

Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what use  (a) his Department and  (b) service providers under contract to his Department make of (i) 0844 and 0845 telephone numbers and (ii) revenue-sharing telephone numbers for calls from members of the public; for which services such numbers are used; what prefixes are used for revenue-sharing numbers; how much revenue has accrued from revenue-sharing numbers in each of the last five years; what consideration his Department has given to introducing 03-prefixed telephone numbers for calls to all such services; and if he will make a statement.

Geoff Hoon: The Department for Transport and its Executive agencies operate three 0845 numbers and one 0844 number. The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency uses 0870 revenue-sharing numbers to provide access to nine public services. Information about these is set out as follows:
	
		
			  Number  DfT or agency  Purpose  Revenue (yes/no) 
			 0845 877 0877 DfT Freight Best Practice helpline providing free information to promote operational efficiency No 
			 0845 750 4030 HA Motorway and trunk road information line No 
			 0845 600 5977 VOSA Garages hotline for checking MOT standards No 
			 0844 800 0819 VCA Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment helpline No 
			 0870 240 0009 DVLA Allows the public to ask general driving licence inquiries Yes 
			 0870 240 0010 DVLA Allows the public to ask general vehicle inquiries Yes 
			 0870 600 0301 DVLA Allows the public to ask advice about health conditions and their effect on driver licensing Yes 
			 0870 241 1878 DVLA Allows vocational drivers to seek advice regarding driver licensing Yes 
			 0870 850 4444 DVLA Allows the licensing of vehicles over the telephone Yes 
			 0870 850 0007 DVLA Allows customers to access information on DVLA's local office network Yes 
			 0870 608 0604 DVLA 'Continuous registration' fine payment line Yes 
			 0870 850 2963 DVLA Helpline for customers using our online driving licence service Yes 
			 0870 850 1074 DVLA Allows customers to seek advice on the use of Smart Tachographs Yes 
		
	
	Revenue information from the DVLA services is only available since January 2005. The figures are shown by calendar year.
	
		
			   £ 
			 2005 2,130,881 
			 2006 2,328,307 
			 2007 3,329,794 
			 2008 3,047,304 
		
	
	In addition, the Driving Standards Agency and the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency have recently switched from 0870 to 0300 numbers for calls made to their contact centres. Revenue information about these is set out as follows:
	
		
			  £ 
			   DSA  VOSA 
			 2004-05 706,399 10,386 
			 2005-06 693,254 63,400 
			 2006-07 623,284 72,400 
			 2007-08 672,048 78,600 
			 2008-09 (1)208,512 (2)52,000 
			 (1) DSA switched to 0300 line on 31 October 2008. (2) VOSA switched to 0300 line on 30 September 2008. 
		
	
	Consideration is currently being given to switching to 0300 numbers for the Freight Best Practice helpline and for the Highways Agency Information Line. DVLA had intended moving to 0300 numbers in line with Ofcom recommendations prior to the retraction of the Ofcom paper on use of 0870 numbers. Preparations to move to 0300 are still in place, once the Ofcom paper and recommendations are republished.

Schools

Michael Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how much his Department spent on  (a) primary and  (b) secondary school buildings in (i) Hemel Hempstead, (ii) Hertfordshire and (iii) England in 2007-08.

Jim Knight: A tentative estimate of the number of jobs that will be created from the acceleration of schools capital funding during the financial year 1 April 2009 to 31 March 2010 is 10,000.